The Birnbeck Regeneration Trust

Welcome to the website of the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust!

Birnbeck Pier, known locally as the Old Pier, stands on the North Somerset coastline at Weston-super-Mare. Built between 1864 and 1867, it is a unique structure, being the only British seaside pier that links the mainland to an island. Over its lifetime it has enjoyed mixed fortunes. In its heyday, it was the Victorian and then Edwardian equivalent of a modern theme-park, with tourist attractions such as a water slide and fairground rides. It was a major transportation link, with scheduled steam ship services arriving from and departing to destinations including Cardiff, Minehead, Ilfracombe and Lundy Island.

The last of these sailings, by the MV Balmoral, took place in 1979. Since then, the pier has suffered a slow and steady decline in both popular attraction as well as in its general condition. Its ownership has changed a number of times, with various multi-million pound development plans being proposed on each occasion. None of these large-scale and perhaps overambitious modernisation schemes have ever come to fruition. The Birnbeck Regeneration Trust seeks a regenerated and expandable island complex, with a mix of old and new - aimed at giving the island a commercially viable future.

The Trust has long campaigned for a revival of the entire Birnbeck area. Since 2004, it has actively worked towards achieving its stated aim of:

Preserving for the benefit of the people of Weston-super-Mare, and the Nation, the natural, historical, architectural and constructional heritage of Birnbeck Pier and Island, together with associated buildings and structures, and the land and buildings adjacent and above the shoreline.

As of late-2017, the Trust is once again working hard to bring key stakeholders together to form a new partnership aimed specifically at bringing the urgently necessary conservation-based restoration and regeneration of Birnbeck Pier and its island to a long-overdue and successful conclusion.

Your Questions?

We have prepared a set of answers to a number of Frequently Asked Questions which now seem to regularly feature in local news publications and on social media websites. You can read them here on our FAQ page.

A tale of Birnbeck...

Just for Fun

Please donate and help us save Birnbeck Pier:

The Birnbeck Regeneration Trust is entirely dependant on public support to be able to advance this project. We are currently fundraising to enable us to conduct an external Project Feasibility Study and Structural Survey of the Pier and Island. We are presently (Oct/Nov 2017) at the 66.8% stage towards this target. Both of these exercises are necessary requirements for the progression of the Heritage Lottery Fund application process, which we intend to advance as soon as we can.

(A conceptual vision of how Birnbeck Island might look in the future.)

You can donate any amount, large or small, via text message:

Or directly from here via Paypal:

You can also donate at our Pier View Information Centre. Please also see our Fundraising page for details of our various Donation and Sponsorship packages.

The Birnbeck Regeneration Trust is partnered and supported by:

Partners:

Awards:

Our Major Project Contributors and Supporters:

Please also see our Supporters Page for a full list of links for all of our various benefactors.